92 



DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



purpureo lavatce ; singula: serie rnacularum obsoletarum margini postico paralkld ; anticce 

 insuper pone medium fascia fused saturatd completd latd externa albo marginatd, angulum 

 analem versus attenuatd, stigmateque brevi in disco; postica fascid mediand latd subundulatd, 

 in regione anali arcuatd etflexuosim ad marginem interiorem ductd, utrinque strigd albd postice 

 saturation praditd, tanidque brevi discoided cum fascid completd connatd ; areold anali ocello 

 solitario maximo nigerrimo, intus rvfo lunulato, fretd ; maculdque orbiculatd atrd in appendi- 

 culum analem, spatio intermedio, strigdque tenui ad marginem interiorem nigris, punctis albis 

 irroratis. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 3 lin.) 



Wings above blackish brown, in the male with a saturated cyaneous, in the female with an indigo 

 blue or deep glaucous shining tint, which, in the fore wings, terminates obliquely at a small 

 distance from the outer apical angle, but in the hinder pair covers the whole surface, to a very 

 narrow posterior marginal thread; the anal appendage has a rufous ground, on which a black 

 spot is bedded, and is surrounded by a whitish fringe : underneath brown with a purple shade on 

 the basal portion and disk, and a slight cupreous gloss spread over the whole surface ; a broad 

 band of a more saturated tint than the ground colour, with a narrow exterior white edge, 

 passes behind the middle of the fore wings, tending slightly to the inner apical angle ; a similar 

 band pervades, slightly undulating the hinder wings, changing its direction in the anal region by 

 an abrupt curve, and tending in a flexuose manner to the middle of the inner margin ; it has a 

 narrow white edge on each side, which in the anal region becomes deeper and gradually changes 

 to a bright sulphureous yellow ; a very faint waving brown band passes exterior of these, parallel 

 with the posterior margin through both pair, to the ocellus in the anal region, and on the disk 

 of each pair stands a short longitudinally divided streak, resembling in character and colour the 

 principal band, being in the hinder wings parallel with, and in contact with its middle portion ; 

 a very large ocellate spot, having a deep black regularly orbicular pupil, and a narrow rufous, 

 almost completely circular iris, consisting at the inner edge of a more intensely coloured 

 arch, stands exteriorly of the tail ; the anal appendage is large oblong and transversely 

 attached, intensely black and surrounded by a very delicate alternately white and blackish 

 fringe; between it and the exterior ocellus is an obsolete black spot covered with minute white 

 dots, which are continued over a short attenuated black streak along one-third of the inner 

 margin : the antenna are banded and the tails are tipt with white ; the body agrees in colour with 

 the wings above, and the abdomen is yellow underneath. 



We have three specimens, one male and two females, in our series : in the determination of the sexes, I 

 was guided by the structure of the anterior feet, as they appear under the microscope. The male has a 

 single incurvated terminal claw, the female has two minute curved claws, partly concealed by numerous 

 villi. In the form of the posterior wings and in the habit this species resembles Thecla Malika. 



25. Thecla Epicles. Ala supra fuscce, maris violaceo micantes ; antica disco, postica limbo apicali 

 aurantio-fulvis, in mare ex lunulis approximatis efformato, fimbria albd nigro interrupt,! antico- 

 rum obsoletiore : subtus omnes late" sulphur ea, limbo apicali sanguineo, posticarum lunulis albis 

 intus marginato, maculisque cuneatis nigris in serie margini ala paralleld digestis ; postica 

 insuper puncto minuto nigro ante discum. (Exp. alar. lin. 13—15.) 

 Plate 1, fig. 3. 

 Polyommatus Epicles. MM. Latr. et Godt. Enc. Meth. Hist. Nat. ix. 646. 



Wings 



